The John Jay Pomeroy Manuscript Collection

1834

Born in Roxbury, Pa.

1857

Graduated from Lafayette College

1861

Graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary

1861

Ordained by the Presbyterian Church

1861-1862

Served as Pastor in Dover, Delaware

1862-1865

Served as Chaplain in U.S. Army during Civil War

1865-1878

Served as Pastor in Upper Octorara, Pa.

1878-1884

Served as Pastor of 1st Presbyterian Church, Rahway, N.J.

1884-1889

Served as Pastor of Central Church, Chambersburg, Pa.

1885

Received honorary DD, Lafayette College

1889

Died in Chambersburg, Pa., December 1

John Jay Pomeroy was born in Roxbury, Pennsylvania, on September 8, 1834. After graduating from Lafayette College in 1857, he came to Princeton Theological Seminary and graduated with the class of 1861. Upon ordination, he began serving as pastor of the Presbyterian church in Dover, Delaware in 1861, the same year the Civil War broke out. In 1862, Pomeroy accepted a position as a chaplain to the Union Army’s 198th Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers and continued with them through the end of the War in 1865. He carried five small books with him, along with a portable writing desk, upon which he wrote many letters. These items, as well as others, are contained in this collection. When the Civil War ended, he took the pastorate at churches in Upper Octorara, Pa. (1865-1878); Rahway, N.J. (1878-1884); and Chambersburg, Pa. (1884-1889). He received an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Lafayette College in 1885.